The present disclosure relates to a new method and system for dynamic recordation and analysis of animal characteristics including, but not limited to, an animal's weight or an animals biomechanic or biometric data (e.g., limb displacements, velocities, accelerations, and/or forces during one or more activities (e.g., standing, walking, trotting, etc.)) from the measured data, whether directly or by derivation, and analysis thereof. The dynamic recordation and analysis permits determination of characteristics of interest for animals, particularly four legged animals, including but not limited herd-animals such as dairy cows, non-dairy cows, pigs, and sheep.
Dairy production is an important industry in the U.S. and a major branch of agriculture in many countries around the world. Cow lameness caused by hoof and leg ailments is a costly problem for the dairy farmer. Lameness necessitates medical treatment, reduces milk production, results in decreased body condition, impairs reproduction performance, and adversely impacts the social status of animals. Economically, lameness is reported to be the third most costly problem for dairy herds following mastitis and sub-fertility. The average cost of lameness is reported to be 412 dollars per incident and the annual incidence rate in the U.S. is fifteen percent. Thus, the annual economic losses due to lameness is over 570 million dollars for the over nine million U.S. cows. These losses significantly impair dairy farms and harm the entire bovine industry. Lameness in dairy herds is, accordingly, a critical economic factor and a vital animal-welfare issue for the dairy industry around the world.
Etiological factors contribute to lameness including nutrition, bacterial and fungal infections, bacterial endotoxin, environmental conditions, housing, flooring, feeding management, and cow behaviors. Prior to the development of a viable Reaction Force Detection (RFD) currently being commercialized by Bou-Matic, LLC of Madison, Wis., disclosed in “Method and Device for Analyzing Weight and Walking Gait”, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/827,311, by the present invention and others, early detection of hoof and leg ailments comprised, in large part, visual observation of severe or latter stages of lameness by farmers. At such latter stages, even successful interventions are more expensive to address and are unable to return the cow, or other herd animal, back into circulation quickly, thus compounding the cost to the farmer. Thus, there existed a need in the art for a method and an apparatus able to provide early detection of hoof and leg problems, which will enable prompt veterinarian medical intervention to reduce economic losses, lessen the pain that the animal endures, and expedite the animal's recovery process. There also existed a need for an early detection system enabling scientific testing of management programs designed to reduce the rate of incidence of lameness in dairy herds.
However, despite the significant advances realized by the aforementioned Reaction Force Detection (RFD) and associated disclosure in the “Method and Device for Analyzing Weight and Walking Gait” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/827,311, a continuing need exists for improvements in the extraction of animal characteristics, including but not limited to data such as limb displacements, velocities, accelerations, and/or forces (e.g., biomechanic data) from the measured data, whether directly or by derivation, and analysis thereof.
Body weight is another animal characteristic that has become an effective management parameter for the dairy industry (Maltz, et al., 1997), and use of walkthrough scales (Peiper, et al., 1993) in moderate and large farms is increasing. When a dairy herd is walked through a stationary scale, the herd must be managed and singulated so as to permit the recordation of the weight of each individual animal. Since cattle is a herd-type animal, this singulation poses a management challenge that is currently addressed by two commercially available solutions: (i) pneumatically actuated entrance and exit gates and (ii) a passive S shape gate that is operated by the animals themselves, such as manufactured by S.A.E. Afikim of Israel (see, e.g., www.afimilk.co.il).
However, both of the weighing systems and the RFD system, utilize means to singulate the animals, thereby disrupting and slowing down the animal traffic and imposing extra work on the animal caretakers. Therefore, a need exists for a means by which animals may be singulated, for such purposes as weighing or force detection, with a lesser degree of disruption to animal traffic than presently imposed by current systems.